Houghton Lodge

Houghton Lodge is a fishing lodge dating to around 1800, possibly designed by J Nash for the Pitt-Rivers family. The lodge is constructed of stuccoed brick with a stud frame, with yellow brick additions, and has old plain tile and later slate roofs. The main block is a 1 ½-story, 6-bay double pile structure, with a projecting bowed bay to the rear, on the garden side, at the center. A 1 ½-story, 4-bay link wing extends to the north end and connects to a mid-19th century service courtyard. This courtyard includes a 4-bay range, connected at a right angle to a 4-bay carriage/garage range with an archway at one end, and a return wing of 5 bays of stable, all parallel to the main block.

The front of the house features a late 19th-century pent-roofed porch with fish-scale tiles and pointed arches on the left side. A tall 4-panel Gothic door, with carved fanwork above, is accessed from the right side, with a single round light beside it. The central bays have pointed openings with double doors, flanked by external shouldered stacks, with a crest mounted on one of them. Pilasters containing downpipes are placed either side of these bays, and near the right end, with quatrefoil stairlights in bays on either side. Moulded stucco eaves are visible. Two-light casements with Gothic fanlights are found in tall gabled dormers across the centre and end bays. The roof is hipped, with decorated ridge tiles, and behind the ridge, stacks of four detached, moulded brick shafts are positioned either side of the centre bays, with two similar stacks on the right hip. A 20th-century extension projects from the right end, featuring pointed double French doors and matching dormers.

The garden front has a wide 3-bay design, with a large, projecting bow in the center, topped with a beehive roof. To the right, a 4-bay link wing connects. A mid-19th-century glazed cast-iron frame verandah runs along the front. The center bay of the bow has a pointed double door, with blind quatrefoils above, while the left bay has a single door. The right bay features ornate Gothic, almost Islamic, pointed double doors. Dormers with 3-light casements and Gothic fanlights are positioned over the end bays. The roof is hipped, with a central beehive roof and moulded brick stacks on the ridge.

Inside, the bowed bay houses a circular music room with a sky-painted domed ceiling and a Blue-John chimneypiece. The left-hand dining room is distinguished by a columned screen, dark panelling, and a fine marble chimneypiece. Behind the music room is an original hall with double doors on the entrance front and a rounded end. The music room features a central pointed door and chimneypiece on each curved wall. A dogleg staircase is located on either side of the hall. To the left of the music room is an enlarged drawing room.